Quality Control & Laboratory Checks
The boring bit: how our food is made and checked
Nobody buys dog food for the quality control. But when something goes wrong with a brand, it is the quality control people ask about. So here is ours, plainly.
Where it is made
Happy Dog is made by Interquell at its factory in Wehringen, Bavaria. Interquell is a family business, now in its eighth generation, with roots in the 18th century. The same company makes human food and baby food, and it runs its pet food through the same laboratories and the same standards. The people whose name is on the building are the people responsible for what goes in the bag.
What happens to a batch
At least one retention sample from every run is kept in the laboratory at the factory. If a question is ever raised about a particular bag, the reference sample for that run exists and can be tested against it. Most of the time nobody needs to. The point is that they could.
On a rolling schedule: bulk density, kibble size, a sensory check, moisture, crude protein, crude ash and crude fat. That is how the recipe on the bag stays the recipe in the bag, batch after batch.
Finished products are regularly tested by an independent, accredited laboratory under a defined test plan, including for Salmonella and Enterobacteriaceae. The limit values are the ones set by feed law, not ones we chose.
The response follows a HACCP food-safety concept certified by an independent authority. We are not going to name the laboratories, because that is their business rather than a marketing line. "Accredited" and "independent" are the two words that matter, and both are true.
What is not in it
No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. No added sugar. Nothing is tested on animals, at any stage.
How it is powered
The Wehringen factory has run on 100% purchased green electricity since 2021, and since June 2024 it has had its own solar park next to the plant, which now covers a growing share of what it uses. Energy use has been managed under a certified ISO 50001 system since 2014. Most of the plant ingredients, the cereals, potatoes and herbs, come from farms around Augsburg, and the company is working towards sourcing 70% of all raw materials from within 700 km by 2030. We say "working towards" because it is a target, not a boast, and the company's own sustainability report is candid that energy use per tonne rose in 2023 and 2024 while the plant was upgraded. We would rather tell you that than round it off.
What this means for you
It means the food you are feeding tonight was made in a place you could visit, by people whose family name is on the building, and checked by people who do not work for them. It also means we can afford to offer every recipe with a money-back trial, because we are not guessing about what is in the bag.
